The Property Stays, but the People are Gone

Welcome to Season 2 Episode 12. We have discussed so many different genres of music over all our episodes, and now we enter the world of folk and country music from both sides of the Atlantic, and we have so much to discuss, that this time there are 11 songs on the list.

Country superstar John Denver opens proceedings with the wonderful “Let Us Begin (What are We Making Weapons For?)”. Patriotic and anti-nuclear, it questions the need to spend so much money on arms, while the poor are suffering.

Dean Reed (known as Red Elvis) was an American who spent many years in South America and East Germany, and sold loads of records in Russia. His song “Wake Up, America” is a call to his motherland to do better.

Worcestershire singer-songwriter Clifford T. Ward’s magnificent “20 minutes” is next. A gentle piece of folk rock, with a hauntingly bleak instrumental section.

Our next song “Four Minute Warning” is by Peggy Seeger and her husband Ewan MacColl. A song without any instrumentation which gives a real-time account of how a nuclear blast in central London would radiate through the city and Home Counties. The list of cities and the sound of children’s voices against Peggy’s plaintive vocal makes this one of our most poignant songs.

Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper combined to provide some memorable Bluegrass tunes and “Gonna put my Face on a Nuclear Bomb” is a up-tempo, jaunty example.

We then discuss the wonderfully optimistic “The Day After” by The Men They Couldn’t Hang. The singer doesn’t care about nuclear war, because he’s in love….

Whitstable’s Oysterband are next, with a wonderfully satirical and melodic song “Ashes to Ashes”, full of interesting characters.

There then follow two songs called “Protect and Survive”; the first by Scottish favourites Runrig, the second by perennial heroes, Jethro Tull – both very different, but the sentiments are the same.

Christy Moore is one of Ireland’s great folk singers, and his song “Farewell to Pripyat” tells the true story of the evacuation of a town close to Chernobyl, as it was evacuated two days after the blast of 1986.

Donovan is one of the best known of Britain’s folk singers, and his jaunty ditty “Neutron” (from which we take our title) is all about the survival of buildings against the destruction of people in a nuclear blast.

Our regular playlist now has 70 songs – find something new to enjoy.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4aHCNYfoQ2gtko5z6pwS9O?si=81bce0c59ff2470d

https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bang-101-more-songs-about-nuclear-war-from-the-1980s/pl.u-vxy6L76uzVzd8Zl

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Opening and closing music: (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John Lovering

Artwork: Rachel Malbon

Assistant Producer: Shivam Pathak

Opening words: Richie Wheeler

Voices of children from Peggy Seeger’s “The Plutonium Factor”.

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